Tutorial Tuesday: T:slim Grab and Go

When I first got my Tandem T:slim pump and was being trained by a pump specialist, my trainer gave me a wonderful tip that I wanted to share with all of you! As you may know, when you get a box of cartridges, it comes with the needle, cartridge, and syringe. All separate. Which is awesome! But when you're in a hurry or getting ready to travel, sometimes people forget one piece to this puzzle and then they can't use a syringe to draw the insulin out of the bottle...like some people we know (me!)

Cue plastic sandwich bags, and my problem has been solved!

So basically, if you have some sandwich bags lying around in your kitchen drawer and your pump supplies, then you have everything you need!

Step 1: Start with 1 of each of the supplies from the t:slim Cartridge Supply Box.You will need:

1 syringe

1 fill needle

1 cartridge

1 sandwich bag

Step 2: Insert all 3 supplies into a plastic sandwich bag. (You could totally add an insertion set too! see photos below...)

Step 3: Repeat this process until all supplies are in separate sandwich bags.(This way, when you're in a hurry running out the door in the morning but need to change your site, [like i have many times] you grab a bottle of insulin, an insertion set, and your "cartridge bag" and ta-dah! You have everything and are totally ready for a set change!)

Note: You could either place all of the grab-and-go bags back into the box by pushing down the middle partition cardboard, or you could add the bags to wherever else you keep your supplies, whether it is a plastic bin or perfectly sized drawer.After each use, since I "normally" change my site at home, I reuse the bags, but if I am traveling, I have found that having that extra bag to place each piece of the wrapper and the needle into becomes super helpful.

Here's a pictorial because I am a visual learner and need to see an example of this. ;)